Ben Gates
Ben Gates has been yo-yoing since 2001 and has made many yo-yo related videos under the alias TAB. He has a large collection of yo-yos, and is not a very good yo-yoer. Generally speaking, he is a successful troll. Ben's triumphant career in competitive yo-yoing began at the 2005 MA State yo-yo contest. After sitting cross-legged all day watching the freestyles, his foot fell asleep when he was called up for the X-division, and he came in last place (5A). He has claimed the title "Former NJ State Yo-Yo Champion." Being that there is not and never has been a yo-yo contest in his home state of New Jersey, this ambiguous claim actually refers to the year he was the highest placing competitor from NJ at Mid Atlantic Regionals. Amid this lengthy history of landing near the bottom of contest scores, Ben has forsaken any serious competitive aspirations, instead pursuing perfection in the cinematic presentation of yo-yoing. He began by documenting various yo-yo competitions as clip videos, to widespread acclaim. He has further explored the art of yo-yoing on video in the form of shooting contest freestyles, producing original trick videos, as well presenting modern yo-yoing in the traditional documetary format, and also a variety of experimental and narrative fiction films. With Francis P. Cuartero, in 2007, Ben shot and edited the pilot episode for YoYoNation.Com's VideoBlog Series. He also produced a short teaser commercial for Paul Yath's original Crucial Milk. Ben is also known for his infamous, beat-to-hell OneDrop Project, which was mutilated as a durability test after Maryland States 2008 in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express. Despite heavy damage sustained by constant Hammer of Thor's, in addition to an altercation with the pizza guy's car, the yo-yo remains playable. One of the hubs is bent, so the axle is crooked, but it is still usable to this day. Once (or twice), he managed to land Spencer Berry's trick Shepherd on tape, and created the ultimate tutorial for the Anti-Contest. He did not win the BSP. After graduating High School in 2010, Ben attended Emerson College in Boston, studying Film Production. During this time he was a regular attendee of the loosely organized Boston Throwers yo-yo club. During the production of Throwing Up in 2013, Ben invented the world's first fully functional rubber bodied yo-yo for 1A, cordially known as The Condom. Cast by hand out of Urethane rubber, the yo-yo is based off the Viszilla/BPZL from Anti-Yo. A limited run of 100 Condoms has been approved, and when produced, they will be released exclusively via kickstarter to fundraise for the eventual Double Dragon Documentary project. A close friend of Ky Zizan, Ben is responsible for most Double Dragon related video content. Most notably, he is producing the Double Dragon Tutorial Series, which debuted in March of 2014 with Volume 1: Enter the Dragons Recently, Ben has taken it upon himself to improve the caliber of yo-yo contest videography in the United States, specifically focusing on better close-up angles and multi-camera freestyle coverage. In 2014, he provided the official videos for VA States, MA States, NER, MAR, PA States, and the Las Vegas Open International Championships. He also had the opportunity to shoot SFC in Jarocin, Poland, during a ridiculous and unexpected adventure across Europe in an RV during the summer of 2014, which was chronicled in an article for YoYoNews.com TAB's Youtube Channel Ben Gates on Vimeo A selection of old contest clip videos by TAB: : ECC 2008 : ECC 2007 : NER 2007 : Worlds '07 : Worlds '06 A selection of yo-yo related short films: : "The Ring Cartoon" (Animated in MS Powerpoint) :"Nightmare Freestyle" :Fast Hands (filmed in Prague, July 2011) :Yo-Yoing, A Contest (Experimental 16mm B&W) :This is Called String Tricking (Short documentary shot mostly in color on 16mm) :Throwing Up ' ' Original Trick videos: :"misconception" :Fresh Air :vs Bergy Video Battle: Decent Vision BKRW :Crumbs of Lot : PRANX: : ECC 2007 "5A Freddy" : NoBeBoSco "Ding Dong Sing Along" : Talent Show "Wardrobe Malfunction" : Halftime Show "Around the World" (Original) : Around the World @ NER (Performance Compilation) : Around the World @ U.S. Nationals 2013 : MA States 2013: 15 Seconds of Fame "Suicide Attempt" : .